For residents · CaRMS
You match in March. You start July 1.
Four months to move province, sign a lease or buy, and start a job that has not paid you yet. Here is what a lender can actually do with a residency contract — and, honestly, when you should not buy at all.
The year, as a lender sees it
Nothing to do about a mortgage yet. Worth knowing your number before you decide which cities to rank.
If you are ranking somewhere you might buy, this is the sensible moment to get pre-qualified.
You know the city and a contract exists. That contract is the thing these lender programs read.
Taking possession before your first pay cheque is ordinary on a projected-income file — it is what the programs are built for.
The 2027 R‑1 cycle runs: CaRMS Online opens 9 September 2026, applications close 26 November 2026, national interviews 16 January – 7 February 2027, rank order lists close 18 February 2027, and Match Day is 2 March 2027. CaRMS notes that dates are subject to change — confirm the current cycle at carms.ca, which is the authority. Nothing on this page depends on an exact time.
Rent or buy in PGY‑1?
Every lender on this site would rather you bought. We would rather you were right. The honest version is that it turns on how long you will be in one place, not on whether you can get approved.
Buying can make sense when…
- Your program keeps you in one city for four or five years
- Rent near the hospital is close to what a mortgage payment would be
- You have family help available for the down payment
- You are reasonably confident you will stay on after residency
Renting is usually the honest answer when…
- Your program is two or three years, or a fellowship may take you elsewhere
- Buying would take every dollar you have and leave no cushion
- You are not yet sure about the city, the program or the specialty
- You might sell inside three years — a short hold rarely covers its own buying and selling costs
What a lender does with a residency contract
A bank reading a two-year T4 average sees a training salary. The physician programs read the contract instead and qualify you on projected income, which is a different answer entirely — and a professional line of credit gets counted very differently depending on which lender you sit in front of. Both of those are worked through, with the lender programs named, on the resident page.
How residents qualify, lender by lender →
Before you rank your cities
Run the numbers for the places you are considering, so the mortgage side is a known quantity rather than a surprise in March.
Run your own numbers → · See how your line of credit is counted →
Planning math and general information only — not advice or a commitment to lend. Programs change, and not every lender lends in every province.
Fifteen minutes, before you commit to anything
Send the contract once you have it and you will get back what it means for borrowing: which programs it fits, what the number looks like, and what to have ready. No credit check to have that conversation.